By: Elena Mart

Modern business centers and museums increasingly play with arches, trapezoids, and other bold geometries, yet mainstream roller shades can’t keep up. Architects crave seamless daylight control that won’t inflate budgets or mar sightlines for their landmark projects. Across the U.S., only a handful of manufacturers address the bottom-up niche for shaped openings. Draper’s Bottom-Up FlexShade covers rectangular and gabled windows but excludes operable arches. DEL Motorized Solutions fills that void with arched shades, though rigid horizontal splines may scar sheer fabrics, and manuals still recommend a two-person crew. Taking the challenge further is Anton Nekrylov, an innovator with twenty years of experience in the window industry. His adaptive, modular technology, set for nationwide launch, marries aesthetics, energy savings, and surgical engineering precision.

From Logistics to Proprietary Technology

From 2004 to 2007, Anton expanded the Gorodok retail chain’s assortment from 4,000 to 18,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs). He installed a semi-automated ordering module based on the 1C accounting platform and cut inventory turnover by 30 percent. 
In 2008, he took charge of a window-manufacturing shop, introduced end-to-end barcode labeling for profiles and insulated glass units, and reduced defects by 15 percent.  
Two years later, in 2010, Anton founded Okna-Service, a firm specializing in non-standard façades. Over the next 13 years the company completed more than 300 projects for clients ranging from the Azot chemical plant and the Lynyk refinery to Schools, courthouses, hospitals. Each site exposed a common gap—shaped windows lacked reliable sun-control solutions—prompting Anton’s own R&D that would eventually lead to his technology.

Bottom Up Shade: An Engineering Key to Architectural Freedom

“When I saw every arch become a surcharge and a heat leak for contractors, it became clear that we needed a technology that frees architects from compromise and makes complex geometry as energy-efficient as a standard rectangle,” Nekrylov says.

His Bottom Up system moves the drive shaft to the sill. The fabric rises from bottom to top, tracing an arch or triangle; a reinforced edge distributes the load, so radii from 250 mm to 2 m need no cross ribs. A vacuum mounting tool allows a single installer to secure a 12-foot cassette in approximately 45 minutes. The device is engineered to support safe and efficient operation by technicians working on stepladders. Laboratory tests show no fabric sag after repeated cycles and nearly an 18 percent reduction in heat loss through the opening.

Manassas: Conversion Instead of Heavy Manufacturing

To avoid direct competition with industry giants, the entrepreneur is building a 1,700 m² workshop in Manassas, Virginia. Dealers ship standard rectangular roller shades; the workshop cuts the custom contour, integrates the reinforced edge, and returns the module. This conversion model removes slow-moving SKUs from inventories and ensures every fabric batch comes from a single mill.

The pilot network is franchise player Budget Blinds. Nekrylov already has installer experience at the Arlington/Alexandria branch and 75 five-star reviews, simplifying testing without new contractors. Once corporate approves, all 1,300 Budget Blinds dealers can send shaped orders to Manassas with their regular shipments.

Commercial and Environmental Value

— Cuts installation costs: the vacuum tool eliminates the second installer and can help in reducing costs.
— Maintains interior unity: designers use the same fabric on rectangular and arched windows, avoiding a mix of shade types.
— Trims logistics: base cloths with a 5–10-inch margin cost less and arrive faster than single custom arched frames.

Competitive Landscape and Room for Growth

Current bottom-up solutions from Motorized Solutions rely on cross-guides, add weight, and require two or three installers. Nekrylov is developing an auxiliary telescopic tool to facilitate the installation of long blinds. This should change the general approach to installation and the standard for the global industry. Its main goal is to increase the efficiency of human labor in this niche. Basically, the tool will allow one person to do the work where previously two or three installers were needed. The patent application will be filed with the USPTO in 2025; publication is expected after the standard 18-month embargo. Nekrylov then plans to manufacture this tool and debut it at IWCE 2026.

Industry Significance

Shaped openings appear in roughly 6 percent of U.S. commercial buildings; lacking standardized solutions, designers often forgo roller fabrics. Bottom Up Shade fills this gap, making complex geometry as buildable as a rectangular frame. Nekrylov’s story shows how the experience of a supply-chain specialist and hands-on engineer can mature into a scalable solution: a thin reinforced edge, a vacuum tool for solo installers, and a converter workshop instead of a large factory. The evolution grants architects freedom of form, dealers new revenue without larger inventories, and the U.S. a localized energy-saving technology at a time when the nation is prioritizing emission reduction and domestic manufacturing.

Published by Joseph T.